Dispensing-carton.



i meanest.

. VEDWARD C. BALDWIN, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

DISPENSING-CARTON. y

Speoicatioli of Letters lPatent.

Application led July 81, 1913. Serial No. 782.157.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, EDWARD C. BAInwiN, a citizen of the United States, of Boston, in the county of 4Suifollr and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dispensing- Ca'rtons, of which the following is a speciiication. a

This invention relates to apparatus for dispensing Hat articles, one at a time, and relates particularly to means for enabling individuals to obtain sanitary drinking-cups of the kind illustrated in Letters Patent No. 1,129,778 granted to me Feb. 23, 1915, for folding drinking-cup, said cups having ns to form handles.

The object of the invention is to provide a device of low cost, and in which the cups` can be shipped to the customer, and from which the cups can be removed, one at a time. in other words, the device is practically a shipping package, which is also a dispensing device, so that the cups do not require to be transferred from the wrapper in which they are shipped, into a separate receptacle for delivery to individual users. rllhis enables the cups to reach individual users without liability of contamination due4 to handling or ngering. u n

".lo these ends theinvention consists in the improvements which l shall now proceed to describe and claim.

@f the accompanying drawings,-

Figure 1 is a perspective view or my improved dispensing oarton, in one of its simplest forms.

Fig. .2 represents a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, on a larger scale.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the carton, the rupturable retaining strips -having been removed to enable the articles to be successively taken out by users.

Fig. d represents the device shown in Figs. 1 and 3, in vertical section, and as supported by a simple form of combined bracket and reinforcing device.

Fig. 5 is aA perspective view of the supporting bracket, shown in Fig. Il.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the dis- Y ensing carton" in connection with another orm of combined supporting bracket and reinforcin device.

Fig. 7 isa side elevation of the carton and vertical section of the bracket shown in rig. e,

Siii'iilar reference characters indicate similar parts in all the figures.

.l vertically elongated box or carton body 12 is preferably made from a blank of paper asteboard, or other suitable material, which is folded to a substantially rectangular form in cross section, the lower end being inclined relatively to the longitudinal center of the box, as clearly -indicated in the drawings, the upper end having interfoldable flaps 13 to enable the box or carton to be filled with a plurality of paper cups a, having n handles a such as shown in my patent above referred to. At the bottom or lower end of the box or body 12, are lips 14 which project towardeach other, said lips forming stops for the edge portions of the cups, leaving a space or opening between said lips through which the bottommost cup can be removed, as hereinafter described. The lips 1li are disconnected from the box or body 12 at their lower edges, and are also shown grasping the thin handle as and pulling thev cup directly outward, the cup springing or yielding so that its edges can be withdrawn from behind the lips 14, or by simply slid- 'ing the bottommost cup downwardly, it can be withdrawn through the slits 15, this slid-= ing .downwardly being effected either by grasping the fin handle a and directing the cup downwardly, or by pressing the thumb and nger against the bottommost edge of the cup and sliding it downwardly. v

be removed in the rst of the two ways mentioned is that, as shown in Figs. 1, 3 and d, the length of the passageway which eX- ists betweeny the lips 14 is greater than the length of the articles a. t will therefore be understood that the articles can be removed from the carton in either of the two ways mentioned, the irst way being '.,y very slightly bending them along the longitudinal center, and the other-way b simply sliding them down through the s its 15.

The box or body of the'carton is made of comparatively cheap material, and the lips 1li would -be liable to open 'downwardly esl dis-

. rihe reason why the bottominost 'cup may` lioo too freely,'if not reinforced. This reinforcing may be effected in either one of several ways. 'In Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4,-I illustrate the reinforcement as consisting of a strip 16, fittin the back of the acute angled bottom of t e box, the ends of said stri being bentover to form ears 17, overlapping the lower ends of the two lips 14. This reinforcement maybe permanently secured 11i the location described, by any suitable means, such as by crimping, or it may be so loosely connected that it can be separated, if desired.

When the box 12 is filled with the cups and is shipped to a customer, suitable rupturable strips 18 are attached, so as to h old the cups and prevent lthem from being forced directly outward through the. opening between the lips 14. Said strips. 18 preferably consist of strong paper slips, glued at their ends, but so that they can be readil torn away when the customer puts the dispenser u in position for users to withdraw indivi ual cups.

' Various devices may be employed to support the'carton in dispensing position. One

' vmethod illustrated is the provision of a p'ocket sheet 19, which is secured to .the back of the box 12, the lower end of said sheet, and sometimes also the upper end, being'unattached. In other words, the sheet may be glued only along its vertical edges to the back ofthe box.

AA bracket, vwhich may be made of sheet' metal, bent to form an attaching base 20, a

vhorizontalforwardly projecting arm or section 21, and an upwardly inclined tongue 22, (Figs. 4 and 5), may be attached to any suitable support, as by screws 23, passing through the base section 20. Preferably, the bracket is formed With a foot section 24, projecting forwardly to support the lower end of the box. Said foot 24 may bein such position that the strip 16 of the reinforcement may bear against it, or the said foot 24 and the strip 16 may be integral, in

which case the dispenser is connected to thev bracket by simply sliding the pocket sheet 19 down over the tongue 22, the angular tip of the dispenser being received in the reinforcement 16, 17.

Another form of combined reinforcement and support for the dispensing box or carton is illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, which represent a bracket consisting of a piece of 4sheet metal bent to form a web 26 of double thickness, the edges being` attaching flanges 2 the sheet metal being also bent to `form a pocket 28, rectangular in cross section, to receive the box 12, the lower end of the pocket 28 having flanges 29 which project inwardly toward each other to serve the double purpose of preventing the box 12 from sliding through the pocket, and to reinforce thebottom lips 14 of the box 12.

customer in sanitary condition.

bent outwardly to form Patent 1,217,682 dated Ineach form illustrated the bracket has an inclined portion. whichl maintains the cartony or box in vertically'inclined position, and the lower end of the box comprising the stop lips is inclined in another direction so that the rear wall of the box and the bottom of the box approach each other at an acute angle. The inclination of the lower end of the box, or in other words the stopllips, insures the flat article a being inclined substantially as illustrated in Fig. 4, thereby rendering it certain that the articles will rest against the inclined rear Wall of the box. Said rear wall serves to guide the edges of the at articles, as the latter move downarticles, so as to insure the bottom-most article reaching the stop lips with oneend edge in position to be easily removed in the manner hereinbefore described.

Each form furnishes a practical certainty that the cup 'in position for removal has had no portion touched or fingered by a preceding applicant for a cup. The lips or flanges 14 or 29 furnish means for preventing either accidental discharge of the cups or the descent of any but the bottom-most cut to position for removal. No part of any cup above the bottom-most one can be touched because the sides of the receptacle are continuous 9 down to a plane thatlprotects all edges of the ne'xt cup or cups above.

. The cups are, of course, shipped to the Whether the cups are dispensed directly from a shipping carton such as described, or through the medium of an outer receptacle or pocket- 28, there is no handling or touching of any cups other than the single one individually remov'ed.- This is still true, even if 'the box 105 or inner receptacle l2 of Figs. 6 and 7 is lifted from the position shown in those gures. The cups then simply slide out of the lower end of box 12 if the lips 14 are not too strongly reinforced or if the reinforcement is removed, and are then contained'in the outer receptacle still protected against contamination.

Since gravity is depended upon to insure the cups reaching dispensing position, the carton or receptacle is supported in a substantially vertical position. Consequently, the inclination of the lower end enables the fin a of the bottom cup to be seen and readily taken hold of to pull that cup out.

I do not claim herein the particular structure of the carton or blank having interengaging wing portions or flaps and having the lips on which the cups rest reinforced, as the same forms' the subject matter of my 125 Feb. 27, 1917..

I claim:

1. `A sanitary cup container in combinationfwith flat paper cups formed vwith fins, said container at its bottom having a slot assign.

with fixed opposite lips which support the cups and said container having means Jfor suspending it to cause the lowermost cup to rest on said lips with its fin in accessible position and form a closure to said slot said slot being as long as the cups and the cups being laterally flexible to permit them to be removed by grasping the fins and bending the cups to withdraw them between the edges of said fixed lips.

2. A carton for flat paper articles adapted to be shipped with said articles securely held therein, said carton comprising a single blank folded to form four side walls and an end closure composed of interfolded flaps, the other end havinglips extending toward each other from two of the side walls, a

space or opening being provided between said lips through which the articles may be removed singly, the said four side walls being continuous from end to end to serve, in conjunction with the said interfolded end flap closure, to protect all of the contained articles except the one next to the said opening, from being contaminated by dust or handling, narrow slits or passageways being provided at one end of the said lips to enable the articles to be removed edgewise.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses. v

EDWARD C. BALDWIN. Witnesses: t

P. W. PEZZETTI, A. W. HARRISON. 

